Decision on stadium's future is a ways off, but Browns want to 'operate with some sense of urgency'

The Browns are entering their 20th season at FirstEnergy Stadium, which underwent a two-year renovation that was completed in 2015.

Enclosing FirstEnergy Stadium, according to several sources, is a possibility. That seems more plausible than building a new stadium, which would cost well over $1 billion. But discussions between the team and the city are in the (very) early stages.

It's been almost four months since ESPN's Pat McManamon reported that the Browns had started discussions about a development project that could lead to "a substantially renovated" FirstEnergy Stadium or the construction of a new facility in downtown Cleveland.

We've since had quite a few conversations with sources inside and outside the organization about those talks. It's way — way, WAY — early, but the Browns really would like to be part of something big. Whether they get the cooperation they're seeking is one of the nine- or 10-figure questions.

'It would be nice for it to be covered'

"It's been amazing to be part of the conversation," Browns owner Dee Haslam told us back in June. "What do the people of this region really want and what do they need? I think all of that is really important.

"If you live in a major market and you have land to develop around it, you make the numbers work really well," Haslam continued. "But we live in a different community, so we just have to, I don't want to say make do, but we have to live within our means and figure out what can be the best for this community, deliver the product on the field and just make it work."

The Browns are entering their 20th season at FirstEnergy Stadium. A $125 million renovation — $95 million of which was financed by the team — of the facility was completed in 2015.

The team's lease at the city-owned stadium runs through the 2028 season — and the Browns are adamant that they're not going anywhere.

Still, they'd like to, at the very least, see the area around the stadium developed and fans provided easier access to a facility that was ill-conceived from the beginning.

"Do we need to enclose the stadium? I don't know, do we?" Haslam said in June. "It depends on how many events we can attract to Northeast Ohio. It's working with the people involved with the tourism group. It's such a long process. I'm glad we started early.

"You start doing these studies, talking to people and figuring out what's the strategy and the plans for this region. That's not our job, but we want to be part of the conversation. And then we need to figure out what do we need? Does the environment need to be closer to the field? Do we need to adjust our stadium? Or maybe we do nothing? We don't have to do anything. We have to continue to update it because that's important, but it would be nice for it to be covered. I think we'd use it for so many more events."

'Operate with some sense of urgency'

A dome, according to several sources, is a possibility. That seems more plausible than building a new stadium, which would cost well over $1 billion.

Still, a dome would come with several obstacles that go beyond financing. Adding a roof would tighten an already snug stadium footprint.

At Browns training camp in late July, Dee Haslam told reporters that one topic that had been discussed with the city was covering the railroad tracks south of the stadium to better connect downtown to the stadium. For a significant investment to be worthwhile, we've been told, improved access and parking are crucial.

Darnell Brown, the city's chief of operations, told Crain's on Aug. 15 that Mayor Frank Jackson "is the only person who has talked at length to Dee Haslam about the status. That's not something he's going to discuss at this point."

Brown then brought up the two-year renovation of FirstEnergy Stadium, which he said "was done to extend the useful life of the current facility.

"Right now, from a capital perspective," he added, "we're just using the capital reserve to keep the facility in good working condition. We do an assessment of the facility every five years, and the Browns do an independent assessment. As far as the long-term outlook of the stadium, we have not participated in those discussions."

On the same day we spoke with Brown, Browns executive vice president and chief operating officer David Jenkins told us the team hasn't "had any real fruitful discussions (with the city) about long-term planning, other than there seems to be a mutual interest."

All options are on the table, but it has to be something "that the community wants," the Browns' longest-tenured executive said. (You can read the full Q&A here.)

"That could be a renovation of the existing stadium that contemplates no roof or a roof," Jenkins said. "It could be construction of a new stadium that contemplates those same elements as well. The challenge becomes is, if it's a new stadium, site selection, remediation, stadium design, construction — that's a longer time frame than being able to say, 'Hey, we're going to stay in this building and renovate.' So we just have to be really well-planned and operate with some sense of urgency."

'Let's agree on a strategy'

Urgency is a key word in all this.

In early June, Crain's reporter Jay Miller wrote about the region's leadership "vacuum," and Jon Pinney took it a step further with a speech at the City Club the following week that was titled, "Dead Last: Northeast Ohio's Economy is Lagging and It's Time to Do Something About It."

"He's right," Dee Haslam said about Pinney. "We've got to get going. There's got to be a sense of urgency. We can't talk about this. Let's agree on a strategy. There are 100 out there that we've gone through. Figure out what are priorities are and just go."

The Browns owner wasn't just talking about the stadium — she mentioned that urgency needed to be present in education and other important areas.

But the team obviously wants to get moving on figuring out what's next for its lakefront home.

As McManamon reported in May, the franchise is conducting an economic impact study with Cleveland State University. In mid-August, I asked Jenkins where that stood.

"That study, just to take a step back and really explain it, a lot of cities do these traditional economic impact studies, and it's, 'What's the direct spend, what's the indirect spend and how do you arrive at that number?' What we're trying to layer on top of that is what does this brand mean to the community," the Browns' chief operating officer said. "It takes a little longer to layer through that process. We're working through the numbers piece, we're working through the qualitative piece. A lot of that is pretty interesting. It's talking to nonprofits we support or talking to the people those nonprofits then service, and really gauging what's the impact that we're having as an organization on the community. We won't have results on that for a little while. I'm guessing another few months."

Again: It's early.

But the Browns clearly want to make sure that this drive continues to move forward.

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